All posts by ShinJae

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #18

AD7 stared at the empty lot in disbelief.  She walked slightly inside the lot and then to the right.  Turning around she looked to the left.  Besides the large restaurant, the sky line was unmistakable.  The buildings were worn and the sidewalk was missing but this was the place.  This is where her seat would have been.  This is where she was when it happened all those years ago.

With all the changes to the city, AD7 couldn’t expect the shop to go unscathed by time.  Even so, there should at least be a shop here, a boarded up building, something.

Oyintsa turned away from the bounty posting.  Seeing AD7 he saw the disappointment in her eyes.  “It was here then,” he asked.

AD7 said nothing but nodded a positive response.  She was still unsure what type of business was here.  But it had to be incredibly important and convenient for her to remember the way even with her fragmented memory.

“It’s been a really long time,” Royal said still looking at the restaurant.  She was getting really hungry, “Your place could have gone out of business.”

“Of all places, I only came here,” AD7 spoke almost to herself.

“Bosstown is pretty ragged these days,” Oyintsa commented, “They could have moved out.”

The scent of the spiced meat was really getting to Royal.  AD7’s struggles were real and if anyone could relate to her problems it was Royal.  Of all the members of GarDNAnge1, Royal was the most familiar with the side effects of rejuvenation.  Things change suddenly.  Life skips over an unknown period of time.  Important matters occur that everyone else knows but spend little time talking about.

She felt AD7’s pain.  Right now though, Royal was hungry.  “The best way to sort out any problem is over a good meal,” she said still staring at the large restaurant in front of her.  The hint was obvious enough for both AD7 and Oyintsa.  Wasting no more time, they went into the noodle shop.

Opening the door, they were all shocked and impressed.  All signs of despair disappeared at the door.  Inside the door was luxury: polished stone entranceway, thick hardwood floors, generous lighting, and live music.  This had to be one of the remaining tourist attractions in the city.  Either that or it was easy to keep clean.

Inside the door was another bulletin board with even more bounties.  The server showed them directly to their seats, stealing Oyintsa’s chance to read them all.

The place was fairly busy.  It had the greatest concentration of people that the three had seen in Bosstown.  Within minutes they had ordered and sat waiting for their food.  Their seats were on the second level of the restaurant with full view of the street and the vacant lot.

Oyintsa saw AD7 sit in quiet contemplation, staring sadly at the lot.  She was the one they had come for, the only one that could help them with the trails.  If she was going to help them, she would need a clear head.  Oyintsa decided that even if the news was bad, AD7 should get the whole story about her missing shop as soon as possible.

Seeing the waiter again, he asks what happened to the vacant lot across the street.

“Oh the old lot,” the waiter replied with pleasant shock, “you know a lot about our cities history.  That is where this store used to be.”  AD7 took a sigh of relief when she heard that.  She turned to the waiter giving him her full attention as he continued, “It blew up and burned down about fifty years ago.”

#1 – Awakening #17 – Awakening #19

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #17

Now, Brisa was absolutely certain that she had met this young lady before.  As much as she tried, she failed to place where she had seen Catlin’s face.  It was maddening.  Wherever it was, it must have been at a party or another social event.  Catlin was so fun to be around.

They went through the shuttle’s equipment shop looking for things Brisa could wear.  To Brisa, all of the items looked dangerous or scary but Catlin looked completely comfortable around them.  Catlin even looked a little disappointed at the selection.  She was an interesting lady, funny, possibly dangerous, and familiar with places like West Drop.

“Why are you going to West Drop,” Brisa asked.  She realized she had never thought to ask this before.  Being a reporter, it was odd that she was so off balance.  She could have the first mission jitters, even though it was a short mission.

“A friend of mine has some business in the area,” Catlin said as she picked out a frightening looking maul.  She put it in the cart before continuing, “We are all going with him just to be safe.”  Just then, Catlin had an inspiration.  “Hey!  You know what?  Even after we get your gear, you shouldn’t be alone in West Drop.  You can hang out with us until your mission is done.”

Brisa had to admit, that was exactly the kind of help she needed.  “That would be amazing.  I hope it won’t be a problem.”

“Don’t worry about it.  My friends would be happy to meet a reporter from Champion’s Chronicle.  We watch your station all the time.”

They kept searching through the shuttle shop for more equipment to complete Brisa’s gear set.  Catlin did most of the picking: a cloth mask with a ghastly mantis head painted over the face; blasters and daggers, neither of which Brisa knew how to use; spike accented leather chest armor that was just a little too heavy; ordinary cloth pants; boots and gloves made out of plated metal that were defiantly too heavy.  Each looked dreadful.  They didn’t seem to look good together either.

Both Catlin and Brisa kept joking at just how unprepared Brisa was for real combat.  Of course, combat wasn’t the goal.  No one would know her lack of abilities unless they tried to fight her.  The goal was to make her look like she was ready for combat.  With the right look she could avoid trouble.  Catlin kept promising her friends would be able to help her if things became dangerous.

Catlin walked to the fitting rooms pushing the cart while Brisa lagged behind carrying the maul Catlin had picked out earlier.  Even with the guns and daggers in the cart, the maul looked the most dangerous.

They reached the fitting rooms when Catlin noted her admiration, “I knew you’d like that.  That will be your primary weapon.”

Brisa blushed slightly.  Catlin was right.  The maul was pretty nice.  Brisa posed with it but could only hold the pose for half a second.  The maul was too heavy.

She looked at the rest of the gear.  Not only were they made from different kinds of materials, they were all different colors.  She trusted Catlin’s judgment but she couldn’t help but comment on the gear, “Th… they all look hideous.”

“You’ll fit right in,” was Catlin’s no nonsense answer, “Most adventurer equipment looks like this.”  Having seen a great deal of the world, Catlin knew what she was talking about.  In adventurer cities like West Drop, clothes were meant for function not fashion.

If Brisa showed up in matching armor she would become a target immediately.  A matching outfit meant that either she had bought everything at a shop and was weak or she was an ace warrior that had high ranking enemies and a large bounty.  “I just so happen to be a tailor and enchanter,” Catlin spoke into the fitting room, “If you need any alterations, it would be no problem.”

Brisa was trying to figure out where to put the more dangerous equipment Catlin chose for her.  Brisa was proud when she first put on the reporter uniform but it had to go.  She surely didn’t want to be attacked again.  The event at the shuttle pad was horrifying enough.  She would do anything to avoid landing in a rejuvenation center.

Still, she couldn’t help but think; this lady is really nice and is helping me too much.  Is there a cost?  “Why are you helping me,” Brisa asked.

“Are you kidding,” Catlin said.  The gleeful response made Brisa feel like a bigger celebrity that Jaquan Zu himself.  “My friends just wouldn’t believe that I met a reporter.  They’ll want to meet you.”

“Are you sure our situation won’t be a problem for your friends.  Remember that one lady I told you about in BigBad.  I had no idea she saw me,” Brisa said looking at her scorched bowtie now discarded with the rest of her uniform, “She’s a real piece of work.  I’m sure the other ones are dangerous too.”

Catlin giggled to herself before replying.  “We’ve seen quite a bit of action too,” she said, “I don’t think we’ll have too much to worry about.”

#1 – Opportunity #16

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #13

Lance was wearing plain brown armor possibly made out of thick cloth.  Even the basic equipment in Forge Master Sef’s armory was more advanced than that.  Metcalf couldn’t see his weapon but it had to be something basic as well.  He wasn’t wearing a helmet.  Maybe he didn’t have one.

He was sitting high in the first level of bleachers flanked by two other students.  The three of them looked at the crowds competing below.  Lance just stared at everything.  Perhaps he was trying to take it all in.  Every now and again, one of the other students would point to an event while talking to him.  Apparently they were teaching Lance something.

Metcalf couldn’t recognize the other two students.  They were probably higher ranking students like Isabeau.  If so, they had no reason to be in the training center.

Lance had only been here a month.  There was no way they moved in the same social circles.  It was very likely the two students were assigned by the school to show him around.

Why would they bring him here?  Last she knew Lance was from the Rock Quarter.  Rock Quarter housing was on the far side of Glory City.  It was quite a trip to bring him all the way to this particular training center.

In the end it didn’t matter.  They were here, and therefore, fair game.  She could challenge any of them.  If they accepted a challenge, Metcalf could see exactly what they were capable of.

Lance was apparently capable of something.  Though he was still deep the red zone, he had gotten a heap of points in a few hours.  Still, midterm was in less than a week.  It would be impossible for him to get enough points to get out of the zone.  No matter what he did at this point he was going to take the final.

He may have just enough points to help her though.  She wouldn’t take all of them of course, just enough to get her to a safe point.  Also, it would be educational to show Lance just how quickly points disappear in the training center.  If he learned the lesson early, he wouldn’t be in the same situation Metcalf was in.

She started walking up the stairs towards them.  By the time she got to them, they saw and recognized her.  Even though they knew what and who she was going to ask, protocol demanded that she ask anyway.

Metcalf tried to sound as innocent as she could.  “Hey,” she said looking at Lance, “you want to do a push drill?”

She almost sounded innocent.  The look Lance gave her spoke volumes.  He knew something was up.  He looked to his companions questioning.  They both looked back as to say the choice was his.  “What’s a push drill,” he asked finally.

“Basically it’s like tug of war,” the student on his left said, “they get a large rock from the river and you try to use your motion skills to push more of it to your opponent’s zone.”

The student looked at Metcalf with an untrusting glare as he spoke.  Metcalf didn’t recognize him but apparently, they met in the training center before.

“Is there any limit on how we use our motion skills,” Lance asked.

That’s an odd question.  How is there more than one way to use motion skills?  You trade motion from something you don’t care is moving to move something else.  Metcalf was stuck on the thought for a while then she spoke.  “Sometimes, people put limits on where you can stand, but I don’t see any reason to put any limits on this drill.”

“Sweet,” Lance said with sudden energy, “I’m game.”

Metcalf saw their weapons.  The student to the left had a metal staff.  The other one had a large knife with a chain connected to it.  She didn’t see Lance’s weapon until they got up.

As the stadium seats lifted, she saw it.  His massive sword was under their seats the whole time and for good reason.  It was easily taller than any of them.  It was more than six centimeters long, two centimeters wide, and at least three millimeters thick.  The back of the sword housed a long handle.  The tip of the single edged weapon curved out from the blade and then back as to imitate the crescent shape of a very large axe.  The hilt area expanded in its last few millimeters to meet the blade.  The pummel of the hilt was a thick version of the classic hanging circle.  It looked more like a small metal doughnut.

It was all made from a single piece of metal.  She didn’t know how heavy it was.  It had to be heavier than any of them without armor.  It looked impossible to lift but Lance picked it up like it was a paper cutout.

All packed up and ready, Lance throws the sword over his shoulder causing the student behind him to flinch.  “Alright let’s go.”

#1 – Lost and Found #12 – Lost and Found #14